ISSPIC, the International Symposium on Small Particles and Inorganic Clusters, is an established biennial conference series on fundamental science of finite size effects and the possibility of controlling the properties of material at the nanometer scale, organized since 1976.
The idea to organize an international meeting of scientists who research the nanomolecular and atomic structures was given by pioneers in nanophysics such as Jean Farges, Jacques Friedel, Walter Knight, Ryogo Kubo, and Bernhard Mühlschlegel.
[2] The objective of the conference is to be an interdisciplinary forum for presentation and discussion of fundamental and technological developments in the research fields involving finite size effects of materials at the nanometer scale.
From its start, one central theme in the field has been to try to understand how matter organizes itself from the atomic and molecular dimensions to nanoparticle regime and finally to bulk and how the various physical and chemical properties of a nanometer-size chunk of material are affected by its dimensionality, size, and the environment.
ISSPIC XVIII in Jyväskylä, Finland, made an effort to enhance the visibility of cluster science to neighboring areas of nanoparticle catalysis, interface chemistry, plasmonics, biological systems, and research on climate change while not forgetting the traditional themes in the field.
[5] After a five years intermission owing to the pandemic situation, the forthcoming ISSPIC XXI in Berlin in 2023 aims to reflect the actual status of research in the physics and chemistry of small particles and clusters.